Pure hardware porn...

[Grall]

Noticed this motherboard today: (Well, yesterday, now...)

Crazy! Also: sooo so beautiful!

I wants... *drools*

Read that intel's newest core i9 series isn't so great for gaming because of smaller, slower L3, but all I can think of is this motherboard, a 10-core CPU slotted into it, and all 8 DIMM sockets shoved full of luscious LED-lit DIMMs, and some RGB LED fans and strips hooked up to this mobo - to quote/paraphrase my favorite mad villain Judge Doom: My god, it will be beautiful!

Did you know there's Aura Sync-compatible power supplies too?! *gulp* And even an SSD! lol

(I can do without LEDs on my SSDs, don't worry... )

 

[Rodéric]

It indeed looks beautiful, I think its price is likely insane ^^

 

[Grall]

@Rodéric
Around €650 in Sweden. And then another €1000 for a 10-core i9, gods know how much for the DIMMs, I dunno RAM prices these days. Add GPU, M.2 SSD and some other bits and pieces and it's a huge chunk of change just for some glowy bits.

Anyway, just found out the Fractal Design chassis I wanted to stick this board in won't take eATX format (dammit!), so I can probably stop dreaming already lol. A uATX system with a 6-core coffee lake CPU is probably both more practical, and certainly a lot more affordable.

 

[Davros]

There looks to be a separate dimm slot on the right whats that for ?

 

[BRiT]

There looks to be a separate dimm slot on the right whats that for ?

Isn't that an M2 slot?

 

[Malo]

Isn't that an M2 slot?

Kind of. It's a custom riser for mounting 2 large M2 drives with optional cooler.

 

[homerdog]

Noticed this motherboard today: (Well, yesterday, now...)

That is pretty, but IMO this is the classiest and most functional motherboard I've ever seen.
Gigabyte MW51-HP0
http://techreport.com/news/32468/gigabyte-mw51-hp0-brings-heavy-metal-for-xeon-w



I will quote a guy from the TR comments section:
http://techreport.com/news/32468/gigabyte-mw51-hp0-brings-heavy-metal-for-xeon-w?post=1050310

This...this is what I want out of a motherboard. Heatsinks that actually work as heatsinks. A nice pile of usable I/O ports on the back. No garish printing on the PCB. No bizarre logo (looking at you Gigabyte with that strange bird and bicep logo). An M.2 slot not marinating in the heat of all the expansion cards. And NO RGB LEDs everywhere.

It even has U.2 - why hasn't this become standard yet?

 

[Grall]

That's indeed a nice functional board, Homer. I'd be a bit wary about the CPU VRM heatsink tho - it looks very small for the amount of power these chips use, so it will run very hot indeed if one uses a tower aircooler (or waterblock.) Also, downwards facing CPU coolers might block off nearby DIMM slots, but this is of course less of an issue if you use traditional, standard-height naked DIMMs instead of boutique overclocked RAM with enormous heatspreaders...

As for U.2 - I wish the board I'm looking at had such a connector, but alas. Then again, it seems aimed at enterprise, so the drives available for it are probably expensive.

 

[homerdog]

That's indeed a nice functional board, Homer. I'd be a bit wary about the CPU VRM heatsink tho - it looks very small for the amount of power these chips use, so it will run very hot indeed if one uses a tower aircooler (or waterblock.) Also, downwards facing CPU coolers might block off nearby DIMM slots, but this is of course less of an issue if you use traditional, standard-height naked DIMMs instead of boutique overclocked RAM with enormous heatspreaders...

I agree, but those issues could easily be addressed while maintaining the aesthetic. Plus it is a Xeon board (no overclocking or fancy DIMMs) so those concerns don't really apply.

I have no idea why there aren't more U.2 drives and compatible mobos. A couple years ago every motherboard under the sun had DOA SATA Express ports on them...it makes no sense.

 

[Grall]

Plus it is a Xeon board (no overclocking or fancy DIMMs) so those concerns don't really apply.

But i-series chips still plug into that thing, right? AFAIK it's the same socket. But if you're buying xeon, you're not going to go fancy dimm, sure. Then again, you might well be doing registered dimm, and aren't those a bit taller? *shrug* Maybe not enough to do a difference with well-designed coolers. In my old socket 1366 system I have one of those classic Noctua NH-12C units (actually the 130mm fan special edition version.) Six pipes, soldered-in fins... Good stuff. Keeps the six DIMMs in that system nice and cool.

OCZ DIMMs actually. From a time when OCZ was a thing. They were good, damn good. Could run 1600MHz 7-7-7-24 1T with all sockets populated, no issues whatsoever, but I since dialed back to 1333, to keep down the voltage on the memory controller. RAM runs much cooler too that way.

A couple years ago every motherboard under the sun had DOA SATA Express ports on them...it makes no sense.

Ah yes, SATA Express. At least that's over and done with from what I can tell! What a bastard of a cable/connector too. Terribly impractical. I think the industry along with consumers realized that M.2 along with regular ole SATA suits most peoples' needs just fine, thus rather pulling the rug out from under U.2's feet... We know how the industry hates shifting connectors and standards anyway, always so much bitching and whining even when there's years and years of parallel implementation and leadtimes.

 

[homerdog]

But i-series chips still plug into that thing, right? AFAIK it's the same socket.

I don't even know any more since Intel made it so Xeons don't work in desktop mobos even if it's the same socket. The board has no official support for anything but Xeons.

Ah yes, SATA Express. At least that's over and done with from what I can tell! What a bastard of a cable/connector too. Terribly impractical. I think the industry along with consumers realized that M.2 along with regular ole SATA suits most peoples' needs just fine, thus rather pulling the rug out from under U.2's feet... We know how the industry hates shifting connectors and standards anyway, always so much bitching and whining even when there's years and years of parallel implementation and leadtimes.

U.2 makes more sense than M.2 on desktops IMO. Especially when 9/10 boards have the M.2 slot beneath the GPU. But if they insist on M.2 they could at least make it so the SSD sticks up vertically from the board instead of hogging a bunch of board space for no reason. I'm sure they could find a way to secure it like that so it wouldn't snap off similar to how they do with PCI cards.

Actually you know what's funny...a lot of boards have M.2 slots in place of PCIe slots. Now how the fuck does that make any sense?

 

[Grall]

I don't even know any more since Intel made it so Xeons don't work in desktop mobos even if it's the same socket.

Oh wow. Yup, that looks, sounds and smells like Intel alright! Glad AMD is back in biz again on the CPU front, offering some pretty darn decent competition again.

U.2 makes more sense than M.2 on desktops IMO.

Yes, probably, but M.2 eliminates the connecting cable and drive bay (and drive casing too), giving possibility of more compact system. And more cheaply. And system integrators love that.

But if they insist on M.2 they could at least make it so the SSD sticks up vertically from the board instead of hogging a bunch of board space for no reason.

The ASUS board I'm looking at has one M.2 slot that is like that. Board comes with a bracket to secure the SSD. Other slot is under the chipset "heatsink", so it'll be grilled well and good by any GPU sitting above it...

Actually you know what's funny...a lot of boards have M.2 slots in place of PCIe slots. Now how the fuck does that make any sense?

I hear ya! Then again, most people hardly use cardslots these days. Sound, networking and I/O is all integrated on mobos to the point there's very little reason to stick in add-in cards to improve on what's already there. That leaves GPU, and with multi-slot coolers on gaming GPUs these days you don't need all the cardslots anyway even if you're a super ultra gamer with unlimited money.

So why not use the dead board space for M.2 functionality...? From that perspective, it makes sense.

 

[green.pixel]

For sound there is, if you care enough about its quality. Although you can use external DACs or cards so you won't need much slots.

 

[Grall]

For sound there is

Meh, I totally doubt it. Human ears are shite, if your mobo has good sound hardware (which high-end boards will have), I seriously doubt you'd notice much if any difference to boutique audio solutions in a proper double-blind test. It's the usual audiophile phantom gains which aren't there in reality, I'd wager.

 

[Davros]

there's very little reason to stick in add-in cards to improve on what's already there.

Unless you play retro (xp era) games

 

[Grall]

Maybe get a retro PC for that then...